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Walked: Reversing Denial of Government Motion for Forfeiture in Money Laundering Case

By Tim Cone

 In United States v. Walked, No. 18-11951 (Aug. 11, 2020) (Martin, Grant, Lagoa), the Court reversed the denial of the government?s forfeiture motion.  The Court held that, if a defendant is convicted of a money laundering scheme that caused no financial harm to an innocently involved bank, a forfeiture order is still mandatory.  Applying the mandatory forfeiture statute in 18 U.S.C. 982(a)(1), the Court concluded that there was property ?involved in? the scheme.  The Court rejected the defendant?s arguments that laundered money is not ?property? under the statute, and that laundered money could not be used to calculate his forfeiture obligation because the money was returned to the bank as part of the scheme.  Finally, the Court held that the district court erred by holding that the Eighth Amendment imposed a $10,000 per transaction ceiling, and the Court remanded for the district court to consider whether a $10 million forfeiture award violated the Eighth Amendment...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on August 11, 2020 (boomark / email).